What Is Electronic Information, and Why Should You Care? - Electronically Stored Information - page 4

These. discussions. and. agreements. take. place. in. what.
are.called.the. Rule.16. pretrial. meet.and.confer .conferences.
where. both. sides. get. together. and. discuss. what. electronic.
evidence.they.expect.to.acquire.and.preserve.for.the.case.at.
hand,. how. they. would. like. it. to. be. produced,. and. the. gen-
eral. management. of. what. is. called. the. electronic. discovery.
or. e-discovery. process.. Agreements. are. made. between. the.
parties,.and.those.agreements.are.recorded.and.become.an.
important.part.of.the.case.at.hand..We.look.at.some.case.law.
later.where.the.agreements.that.were.made.in.these.pretrial.
meetings.were.used.by.the.court.to.decide.on.the.correct.rul-
ing.on.a.question.of.evidence.
The. bases. of. the. agreements. that. come. out. of. the. Rule.
16.meetings.are.established.by.Rule.26.that.is.discussed.next.
and.which.governs.the.provisions.of.discovery.and.the.duty.
to.disclose.
1.2.1.2. .Rule.26—.General.Provisions.
Governing.Discovery;.
Duty.of.Disclosure
One. of. the. irst. changes. was. in. 26(A)(ii). that. states. parties.
must. provide:. “a. copy—or. a. description. by. category. and.
location— of.all.documents ,.electronically.stored.information,.
and.tangible.things.that.the.disclosing.party.has.in.its.posses-
sion,.custody,.or.control.and.may.use.to.support.its.claims.or.
defenses,. unless. the. use. would. be. solely. for. impeachment”.
(emphasis.added).
The.term. electronically.stored.information. was.added.to.
speciically.call.out.the.fact.that.this.evidence.was.now.con-
sidered.as.important.as.any.other.type.of.evidence.
Speciically.in.26(f),.parties.are.required.to.meet.and.con-
fer.about.ESI.early.on.and.discuss.things.such.as:
•. What.the.parties.will.rely.on.as.relevant.electronic.evi-
dence. (what. types. of. electronic. data. such. as. e-mail,.